10 Reasons Why It's Hard to Become Catholic

See http://www.taylormarshall.com/2013/05/10-reasons-why-its-hard-to-become.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+taylormarshall+%28Dr.+Taylor+Marshall+|+Canterbury+Tales%29

Boston cardinal to boycott graduation over honors to Irish official

Boston, Mass., May 10, 2013 (CNA).

Cardinal Séan O'Malley announced that he would not attend the commencement of Boston College due to an honorary degree Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny will receive at graduation.
According to a May 10 statement from the cardinal, “Mr. Kenny is aggressively promoting abortion legislation” in Ireland.

“Because the Gospel of Life is the centerpiece of the Church’s social doctrine and because we consider abortion a crime against humanity,” Cardinal O’Malley explained, “the Catholic Bishops of the United States have asked that Catholic institutions not honor government officials or politicians who promote abortion with their laws and policies.”

“Since the university has not withdrawn the invitation and because the Taoiseach (prime minister) has not seen fit to decline, I shall not attend the graduation,” the cardinal added.

In addition to serving as the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal O’Malley also serves as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

On April 25, Boston College, a Catholic Jesuit university in Boston, announced that it would host Kenny as its commencement speaker and award the Irish Prime Minister an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at its May 20 graduation ceremony. On May 9, the college reaffirmed its commitment to having Kenny as its speaker following condemnation from various pro-life groups within the Boston area and across the country.

Traditionally, the archbishop of Boston delivers a closing benediction during the commencement ceremony.

Kenny and his party has been advancing legislation that would legalize abortion when the mother’s life is in danger – including when the mother threatens suicide.

Abortion is currently illegal in Ireland, and both Kenny and his party, Fine Gael, had previously promised not to advance abortion legislation. Kenny has hinted that pro-life members of parliament who vote against the legislation may be expelled from the party.

Kenny has claimed to reporters that the legislation “ restates the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland,” and merely places into law an earlier Irish Supreme Court ruling that permitted abortion in such cases. However, critics note that the lack of a gestational age limit means that abortion would be available on-demand to any woman in Ireland who raises the threat of suicide.

As currently proposed, the law also lacks conscience protections for doctors, nurses, and other health care workers, and would force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.

Irish bishops have criticized the legislation in a May 3 statement, calling it “a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law.” They also note that the legislation, if approved, would “make the direct and intentional killing of unborn children lawful.”

Cardinal O’Malley has also criticized the legislation, saying in a May 10  interview with the Catholic Herald that abortion “is the taking of an innocent human life” and that “everyone should resist” it.

The cardinal noted that while Ireland has had the “good fortune” to “have been opposed to abortion despite the great pressure that they have come under from secularizing forces,” he hopes “that Ireland will continue to stand up against the pressures” to advance abortion within the country.

“Pressure to legislate for abortion is a dehumanizing force in our world,” Cardinal O’Malley added.

In his May 10 statement, the cardinal said he was “sure that the invitation was made in good faith, long before” Kenny’s legislative actions “Came to the attention of the leadership of Boston College.”

Boston College Spokesman Jack Dunn said to the Boston Globe on May 10 that the school “invited Prime Minister Kenny a year ago” and chose him “in light of our long-standing connection with Ireland and our desire to recognize and celebrate our heritage.” Dunn also said that the decision to invite Kenny is “independent” of the proposed legislation.

The cardinal offered his “ardent hope that Boston College will work to redress the confusion, disappointment and harm caused by not adhering to the Bishops' directives,” and resolve the situation.

Adding that while he will not be able to give the final benediction, “I assure the graduates that they are in my prayers on this important day in their lives, and I pray that their studies will prepare them to be heralds of the Church’s Social Gospel and ‘men and women for others,’ especially for the most vulnerable in our midst.”

A New Blasphemous Play: “The Testament of Mary”

America Needs Fatima Blog May 2013:

A narrow-minded, vulgar, egoistic and even idolatrous woman — this is how Irish author Colm Tóibín presents the Blessed Virgin Mary in his novel (now making its debut on the stage) titled ""The Testament of Mary"." [1]
His blasphemous play is being presented at the Walter Kerr Theatre, a Broadway theater, starting Tuesday, March 26, 2013, at 8:00pm. [ANF did an online protest against this book to publishers Simon and Schuster on 14-Jan., 2013. We sent 15,493 protest messages to them. Now, along with the American TFP and TFP Student Action, we are doing an on-site protest and reparation against this play at the Kerr Theater on 26-March. There is no possibility of doing an online protest against this play because Kerr Theater’s only contact is through a third-party provider’s “box office” phone number. We ask you to join us in prayer and reparation.]
"The Testament of Mary" is the latest in a wave of blasphemies that has been building for years. It is noteworthy that besides being written by an avowed homosexual, at the Walter Kerr Theatre "The Testament of Mary" is being performed and directed by open lesbians, namely, Irish actress Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner.[2]
Distorting the Image of Mary
Although a former Catholic seminarian, the Irish writer gives free rein to his imagination when expressing his contempt for the Gospels, Christian tradition, and Mary Most Holy.
His truth-twisting goal seems to be well summarized on the book’s flap: “Tobin’s tour de force of imagination...our image of Mary will be forever transformed.”[3]
The play is a monologue in which the actress recites a so-called “testament of Mary,” and, while using “soft”  language, voices the wildest aberrations against the Catholic Faith.
With an interior act of reparation, we present below some examples of these aberrations so that our readers can gauge how far impiety can go.
Contrary to what Christian tradition affirms, Tóibín suggests that Mary was not taken care of in a filial manner by Saint John the Evangelist in Ephesus, but instead was “kept” there by two extortionists who pressured her to provide false testimony they could use to compose the Gospels. Among other things, they urged her to affirm the divinity of Jesus Christ, but she refused, since“She does not agree that her son is the Son of God.”[4]
Mary is portrayed as a skeptic who did not follow her own Son: “I am not one of his followers.”[5] And, she deemed His disciples, “a group of misfits.” Not one of them “was normal.”[6]
For Tóibín, the Mother of God was secretly a pagan worshiper of the hunting goddess Artemis (the Greek equivalent of the Roman goddess Diana): “I bought from one of the silversmiths a small statue of the goddess who lifted my spirits.”[7]
The Redemption “Was not Worth It”
At the wedding of Cana, the Irish writer would have us believe that she did not ask her Son to perform a miracle, and that she did not believe in the marvelous transformation of water into wine. While everyone else rejoiced at the miracle, “I did not cheer.”[8] 
At the hour of Crucifixion — Tóibín continues — she fled: “It was my own safety I thought of, it was to protect myself.”[9] She did not cradle her Son in her arms when He was lowered from the Cross, nor did she ascertain how He was buried.[10]
When the disciples say that the Gospels will change the world, this counterfeit Mary disdainfully quips:“‘The world?’ I asked. ‘All of it?’”[11]
In face of the affirmation that her Son “was the Son of God” and that “he was sent by his father to redeem the world,” Tóibín’s Mary “rage[s] against them,” stating: “I will say that it was not worth it. It was not worth it.”[12]
Rejecting Christ, Worshipping a Goddess
The novel ends with the Blessed Virgin idolatrously invoking the pagan goddess Artemis: “I speak to her in whispers, the great goddess Artemis… I tell her how much I long now to sleep in the dry earth, to go to dust peacefully with my eyes shut in a place near here where there are trees.”[13]
The Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a pagan! Evidently, in its perversity, blasphemy respects no limits. No Catholic can remain indifferent to such offenses.
An Injustice Against Benefactors
One of the most shocking acts a person can do is to challenge, ridicule or slander his own father or mother. For the most elementary justice commands us to honor and manifest gratitude and respect for those who gave us life, supported and guided us when we were weak and defenseless.
To act in the opposite manner is to show a hardening of heart and a spirit of revolt that subverts the nature of feelings and the order of things. In short, it is a sin, a grievous sin.
Filial piety is inscribed in human nature by natural law and is a duty sanctioned by Divine Law in the Fourth Commandment.
This is why even those who are prone to excuse other people’s faults are indignant at moral or physical violence perpetrated against parents. From ancient times, parricides and matricides received especially harsh punishment.
Gravity of the Sin of Blasphemy
Now then, if to dishonor one’s natural parents is so serious and gravely unjust, what to say of those who turn against the Creator Himself, to whom they owe their existence even more than to their parents?
If every sin shows contempt for God’s law (a contempt that is more or less pronounced depending on the seriousness of the matter and the person’s intent), when it comes to blasphemy contempt is displayed not against the law, but against God Himself. It is displayed directly, when one vilifies His Holy Name or actions. It is displayed indirectly, when it targets His saints, religion, and sacred things.
Blasphemy is considered the gravest of sins because it directly counters man’s very end, which is to love God.[14]
Gravity of Blaspheming Our Lady
Our Lady is called our Mother in the Litany of Loreto, for she is the Universal Mediatrix with her Divine Son. A second reason is because she is the Mother of the Redeemer, Who gave us the life of grace.
Therefore, the offense to our Mother in the supernatural order is especially grave and iniquitous, and the Most Holy Trinity is particularly offended when she is blasphemed.
Heretical Blasphemy
The gravity of the sin of blasphemy is greater when it expresses heresy, by denying the truths revealed by God and taught by the Magisterium of the Church.
In denying the divinity of Christ, His Resurrection, and the veracity of the Gospels, "The Testament of Mary" is not only blasphemous but heretical. It presents a caricature of the Blessed Virgin Mary and implicitly denies all of the dogmas the Church has defined in her regard.
In light of the above, "The Testament of Mary" deserves the most vehement and indignant repudiation from the faithful and The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property—TFP and its America Needs Fatimacampaign enjoin their fellow Catholics and all God-fearing Americans to reject it — legally and peacefully — offering their prayers and heartfelt public reparation for the offense it gives to Almighty God, Mary Most Holy, and the Catholic Church.
 Reparation Prayer for Blasphemy against the Blessed Virgin Mary
 Notes

1. Colm Tóibín, "The Testament of Mary" (New York: Scribner, 2012). All of the quotes in this article are from this edition of the novel. [back to text]
 2. Cf. Susanna Rustin, “A life in books: Colm Tóibín,” The Guardian, Oct. 25, 2010,http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/25/colm-toibin-brooklyn-family-interview, accessed Mar. 20, 2013; John Preston, “Costa Book Awards: Colm Toibin interview,” The Telegraph, Jan. 25, 2010,http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/books-life/7074090/Costa-Book-Awards-Colm-Toibin-interview.html, accessed Mar. 20, 2013; Tim Teeman, “Fiona Shaw: ‘I Have Enormous Sadness in Me,’”The Times, Dec. 10, 2009,http://www.consortentertainment.com/news-details.aspx?newsID=21295 accessed Mar. 20, 2013; Liz Hoggard, “Power lesbians: The female celebs who are out and proud,” Evening Standard, Aug. 24, 2009,http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/power-lesbians-the-female-celebs-who-are-out-and-proud-6717981.html, accessed Mar. 20, 2013; “The IoS Pink List 2010,” The Independent, Aug. 1, 2010,http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-iiosi-pink-list-2010-2040472.htm, accessed Mar. 20, 2013; Fiona Shaw, “What’s harder than telling your parents that you’re gay? Telling your children.” The Independent, Apr. 24, 2012,http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/whats-harder-than-telling-your-parents-that-youre-gay-telling-your-children-7670484.html, accessed Mar. 20, 2013. [back to text]
 3. Tóibín, book flap. [back to text]
 4. Ibid. [back to text]
 5. Ibid., 44. [back to text]
 6. Ibid., 6. [back to text]
 7. Ibid., 10. [back to text]
 8. Ibid., 38. [back to text]
 9. Ibid., 65. [back to text]
 10. Cf. Ibid., 79. [back to text]
 11. Ibid., 77. [back to text]
 12. Ibid., 80. [back to text]
 13. Ibid., 80. [back to text]
 14. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-II, qq. 13-14. [back to text]

Irish Bishops: Abortion Bill 'would make intentional killing of unborn children lawful'

See  http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/bishops-abortion-bill-would-make-intentional-killing-of-unborn-children-lawful-593273.html

Famous Scientists Who Believed in God

See http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2013/05/famous-scientists-who-believed-in-god.html

How Do You Approach to Receive the King of the Universe?

Les Femmes April 26, 2013:

In 2010 Pope Benedict explained why those who received Communion from him personally must kneel and receive on the tongue:

The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point. One very important reason is that there is a great danger of superficiality precisely in the kinds of mass events we hold at St. Peter’s, both in the Basilica and in the Square. I have heard of people who, after receiving Communion, stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a kind of souvenir. In this context, where people think that everyone is just automatically supposed to receive Communion — everyone else is going up, so I will, too — I wanted to send a clear signal. I wanted it to be clear: Something quite special is going on here! He is here, the One before whom we fall on our knees! Pay attention! This is not just some social ritual in which we can take part if we want to. 

  I once read a quote from a non-Catholic who said if he believed what Catholics say they believe about the Real Presence, he would crawl up to receive Communion on his hands and knees. Does my disposition show this kind of belief and respect for the risen Lord who comes to me in Holy Communion?
Oh, how I wish we would return to using the altar rail and kneel for Communion. It not only shows respect for Jesus in the Eucharist, but is the great equalizer where college presidents kneel side by side with their students, where company presidents and CEOs kneel next to their employees, where presidents kneel beside secretaries and clerks, etc. There is no favored place at the table when one approaches the Communion rail. How I wish its use would return. I think our pope emeritus would approve as well.

Why Do Priests Wear Black?

Aggie Catholics April 26, 2013:

Q - Why do priests wear black and not some other color?
A - Thanks for the question. There are several good reasons why priests wear black.
Reason #1 - "Clerics" are a kind of uniform for clergy.  As in certain secular professions a uniform can help easily identify someone.  Priests want to be easily identified as clergy, not so they stand out in a crowd and gather attention for their own sake, but because they should be a sign of Jesus to the world.
In the early Church there was no specific clothing for the ordained clergy.  But, by the 500s many clergy began to wear long tunics that reached from neck to feet for two reasons - first it was warm, second it was a sign of modesty, because it was simple, not ornate, clothing.  This is the beginning of the tradition of the cassock - seen on the right.
By the middle ages, canon law proscribed clerical garb to be worn and started to regulate it.  It even had penalties for those who did not.  There are no longer any penalties associated with not wearing clerical garb.
Thus, clerical clothing has developed down through the ages to today.  Canon law presently states:

Clerics are to wear suitable ecclesiastical garb according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops and according to legitimate local customs - Canon 284.

Here is what the USCCB says in a "complimentary legislation" on Canon Law about it:

In liturgical rites, clerics shall wear the vesture prescribed in the proper liturgical books. Outside liturgical functions, a black suit and Roman collar are the usual attire for priests. The use of the cassock is at the discretion of the cleric.

In the case of religious clerics, the determinations of their proper institutes or societies are to be observed with regard to wearing the religious habit.

So, in ordinary situations, a priest should wear clerics.  But, it is not required at all times.
Reason #2 - Clerics symbolizes something, as do most practices in our Church.
The black represents a priest dying to self as well as simplicity/poverty.  Every time he puts on his clerics, he should remember that he does not belong to himself, but his bride, the Church.  It also symbolizes simplicity and giving up the comforts, honors, and privileges of the world.
The white Roman collar you see priests wearing symbolizes obedience to God and the Church.  This comes from the tradition of a slave having a ring put around their necks and priests choose to give their lives to Christ as his "slaves".  It also represents the marriage "ring" of being we to the Church.  The white also symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.
In other countries, especially in hot/tropical ones, you will find that the colors might be reversed and white might be the color of preference.  It makes sense in hot climates not to make someone wear black all the time.  Also, other colors for Monsignors, Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals, and the Pope help others recognize their positions in the Church.  They also each have a meaning behind them.

Pope Francis welcomes Benedict back to Vatican

Vatican City, May 2, 2013 (CNA/EWTN News).

Benedict XVI has returned to the Vatican after moving to the papal summer household outside of Rome to not interfere with the papal election.

“He is now pleased to return to the Vatican, where he intends to devote himself, as he announced on Feb. 11, to the service of the Church in prayer,” said a Vatican statement released on May 2.

The former Pope was picked up by helicopter at 4:30 p.m. from the grounds of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence that is located on the edge of a volcanic crater lake, about 15 miles southeast of Rome.

He had been living in the house for two months as a temporary arrangement since he resigned on February 28.

“The former Pope is happy to return to the Vatican because that is the normal situation for him,” said Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See’s press office.

“He will live a normal life, I believe that he can walk and also receive visitors and so on, but that depends on him and how he wants to live his life,” Fr. Lombardi told Vatican Radio.

Benedict XVI arrived at around 4:45 p.m. at the Vatican’s heliport and was greeted by Vatican staff and authorities including Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State.

Also in attendance were Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the President of the Vatican City State Governorate; Archbishop Angelo Becciu, deputy of the Secretariat of State; Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, who is the State Secretariat’s chief of relations with States; and Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, the secretary for the Vatican City State government.

From the heliport, Benedict XVI took a car to his permanent home, the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where Pope Francis met him.

After their greeting, the two walked into the chapel of the monastery for a short moment of prayer.

The monastery is located within the Vatican gardens and is a 10-minute walk from the Saint Martha residence where Pope Francis lives.

Renovations to the monastery, which began in Nov. 2012, were recently completed and involved replacing old windows, fixing a problem with humidity in the basement and making repairs to a rooftop terrace.

“It is small but has been well prepared,” Fr. Lombardi commented.

“There is, for example, a study room and a small library and there is also a room for when his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, comes to visit,” he said.

The monastery also includes a chapel and a choir room.

Benedict XVI will live alongside five other people, including his secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, and the four Memores Domini who lived with him at the Pontifical Household throughout his pontificate.

The Memores Domini are members of a lay association whose members practice obedience, poverty and chastity, and live in a climate of silence and common prayer.

As for the former pontiff’s health, Fr. Lombardi said he is healthy and there is no reason for any “special concern.”

“He is not a young man, he is old and strength slowly goes backwards, but there is no specific illness,” said the Vatican spokesman.

Pope Francis to canonise 800 Italians slain during historic siege

From http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/04/30/pope-francis-to-canonise-800-italians-slain-during-historic-siege/

Pope Francis is preparing to canonise an estimated 800 Italian laymen killed by Ottoman soldiers in the 15th century. The canonisation service will be on May 12 in St Peter’s Square and it will be the first carried out by the Pontiff since he was elected in early March.
The killing of the martyrs by Ottoman troops, who launched a weeks-long siege of Otranto, a small port town at the most eastern tip of southern Italy, took place in 1480.
When Otranto residents refused to surrender to the Ottoman army, the soldiers were ordered to massacre all males over the age of 15. Many were ordered to convert to Islam or die, but Blessed Antonio Primaldo, a tailor, spoke on the prisoners’ behalf. “We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, and for Jesus Christ we are ready to die,” he said, according to Blessed John Paul II, who visited Otranto in 1980 for the 500th anniversary of the martyrs’ deaths.
Primaldo inspired all the other townspeople to take courage, the late Pope said, and to say: “We will all die for Jesus Christ; we willingly die so as to not renounce his holy faith.” There were not “deluded” or “outdated,” Blessed John Paul continued, but “authentic, strong, decisive, consistent men” who loved their city, their families and their faith.
The skulls and other relics of the martyrs currently adorn the walls around the altar of Otranto Cathedral as a memorial to their sacrifice. According to the archdiocese’s website, popular tradition holds that when the soldiers beheaded Primaldo, his body remained standing even as the combatants tried to push him over. Legend has it that the decapitated man stood until the very last prisoner was killed, at which point Primaldo’s body collapsed next to his dead comrades.
In 1771, the Church recognised the validity of the local veneration of Primaldo and his companions and allowed them to be called Blessed. In 2007, retired Pope Benedict XVI formally recognised their martyrdom and, in 2012, he recognised a miracle attributed to their intercession. Martyrs do not need a miracle attributed to their intercession in order to be beatified. However, miracles must be recognised by the Vatican in order for them to become saints.
The miracle involved the late-Poor Clare Sister Francesca Levote. She was suffering from a serious form of cancer but was healed after a pilgrimage to pray before the martyrs’ relics in Otranto in 1980, a few months before Pope John Paul’s visit in October. She died in February 2012 at the age of 85.
In a letter published in December 2012, Archbishop Donato Negro of Otranto said that the martydom of the townnsfolk must represent a “purification of the memory of the Catholic Church and a rooting out of every possible lingering resentment, rancor, resentful policies, every eventual temptation toward hatred and violence, and every presumptuous attitude of religious superiority, religious arrogance, moral and cultural pride.”
Remembering Christian martyrs is an occasion to examine one’s own life and make sure it corresponds with the Gospel call to love and forgive, he added.

Irish Government bring out draft abortion legislation

From http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0430/388858-abortion-legislation/

Ministers have agreed the terms of the proposed Protection of Maternal Life Bill.
RTÉ News has learned that in the case of suicidal ideation, for a woman to be granted a termination of pregnancy, the three consultants reviewing the case must all agree that this should proceed.
There is provision for an appeal by the woman where termination of pregnancy is not approved by the first three doctors.
That appeal would be to three other consultants.
The appeal panel of three doctors must also be unanimous in approval for a termination to be granted under law.
The procedures mean that in the case of suicide threat, a woman could have six doctors reviewing her application.
The full details of the legislation are due to be published later this evening.
One Cabinet source said there had been substantial changes to the measures.
They told RTÉ News that it was a very different Bill to the legislation described in earlier media reports.
Some Fine Gael sources said they were hopeful that backbenchers with misgivings about including the risk of suicide as grounds for abortion might think differently when they see the terms of the legislation.

The Cabinet resumed its talks on the legislation this evening after an adjournment this afternoon.
The adjournment came after what Cabinet sources described as a lengthy discussion of the legislation.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny denied there were any problems at Cabinet with the legislation and ministers dealt with 28 items this morning.
He earlier said it was the Government's intention to have the heads of the bill sent to the Oireachtas Health Committee after approval today.
It is now 21 years since the Supreme Court judgment in the X Case, which found that abortion was legal under the Constitution, if there was a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother.
The court held that this included the threat of suicide.
The draft heads will go for detailed discussion in the Oireachtas Health Committee, before the actual legislation is drawn up and introduced in the Dáil.
There is significant opposition to the measure within Fine Gael, with several TDs and Senators likely to defy the party whip on the issue.
Mr Kenny has urged opponents to study the wording, and contribute to the debate, before coming to a final decision.